SoroushVahidi/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Personality and Psychological Aspects of Cosmetic Surgery
(2015)

In recent years, cosmetic surgery in Iran, which is provided almost entirely by the private sector, has gained popularity despite evidence of its potential risks. In most cases, cosmetic surgeries are done to increase self-satisfaction and self-esteem, thus seeking cosmetic surgery potentially shows an individual’s psychological profile. Current evidence needs studies on the psychological profile of Asian cosmetic surgery patients. The present study investigates psychological profile and personality traits of people seeking cosmetic surgery in Iran. The present prospective observational study was conducted with a sample of 274 randomly selected persons seeking cosmetic surgery (rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, face/jaw implant, mammoplasty, and liposuction). All participants completed the validated and reliable the Global Severity Index (GSI)—Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R)—and the short Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). The prevalence rate of psychiatric problems based on the GSI cut-off point (>63) of SCL-90-R was about 51 %, and interpersonal sensitivity and psychosis were the highest and lowest endorsed syndromes among the subjects, respectively. Openness had the lowest mean score; agreeableness and extroversion had the highest mean. The current study shows that understanding and psychological evaluation prior to surgery is necessary and screening can reduce the number of unnecessary surgeries and may enhance satisfaction with surgical results. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .
Mining Social Entrepreneurship Strategies Using Topic Modeling
(2016)

Despite the burgeoning research on social entrepreneurship (SE), SE strategies remain poorly understood. Drawing on extant research on the social activism and social change, empowerment and SE models, we explore, classify and validate the strategies used by 2,334 social entrepreneurs affiliated with the world's largest SE support organization, Ashoka. The results of the topic modeling of the social entrepreneurs' strategy profiles reveal that they employed a total of 39 change-making strategies that vary across resources (material versus symbolic strategies), specificity (general versus specific strategies), and mode of participation (mass versus elite participation strategies); they also vary across fields of practice and time. Finally, we identify six meta-SE strategies-a reduction from the 39 strategies-and identify four new meta-SE strategies (i.e., system reform, physical capital development, evidence-based practices, and prototyping) that have been overlooked in prior SE research. Our findings extend and deepen the research into SE strategies and offer a comprehensive model of SE strategies that advances theory, practice and policy making.
What factors lead to software project failure?
(2008)

It has been suggested that there is more than one reason for a software development project to fail. However, most of the literature that discusses project failure tends to be rather general, supplying us with lists of risk and failure factors, and focusing on the negative business effects of the failure. Very little research has attempted an in-depth investigation of a number of failed projects to identify exactly what are the factors behind the failure. In this research we analyze data from 70 failed projects. This data provides us with practitionerspsila perspectives on 57 development and management factors for projects they considered were failures. Our results show that all projects we investigated suffered from numerous failure factors. For a single project the number of such factors ranges from 5 to 47. While there does not appear to be any overarching set of failure factors we discovered that all of the projects suffered from poor project management. Most projects additionally suffered from organizational factors outside the project managerpsilas control. We conclude with suggestions for minimizing the four most common failure factors.
Attribute based object identification
(2013)

Over the last years, the robotics community has made substantial progress in detection and 3D pose estimation of known and unknown objects. However, the question of how to identify objects based on language descriptions has not been investigated in detail. While the computer vision community recently started to investigate the use of attributes for object recognition, these approaches do not consider the task settings typically observed in robotics, where a combination of appearance attributes and object names might be used in referral language to identify specific objects in a scene. In this paper, we introduce an approach for identifying objects based on natural language containing appearance and name attributes. To learn rich RGB-D features needed for attribute classification, we extend recently introduced sparse coding techniques so as to automatically learn attribute-dependent features. We introduce a large data set of attribute descriptions of objects in the RGB-D object dataset. Experiments on this data set demonstrate the strong performance of our approach to language based object identification. We also show that our attribute-dependent features provide significantly better generalization to previously unseen attribute values, thereby enabling more rapid learning of new attribute values.
Hybrid analog-digital backscatter: A new approach for battery-free sensing
(2013)

After comparing the properties of analog backscatter and digital backscatter, we propose that a combination of the two can provide a solution for high data rate battery free wireless sensing that is superior to either approach on its own. We present a hybrid analog-digital backscatter platform that uses digital backscatter for addressability and control but switches into analog backscatter mode for high data rate transmission of sensor data. Using hybrid backscatter, we report the first digitally addressable real-time battery free wireless microphone. We develop the hybrid backscatter platform by integrating an electret microphone and RF switch with a digital RFID platform (WISP). The hybrid WISP operates by default in digital mode, transmitting and receiving digital data using the EPC Gen 2 RFID protocol but switching into analog mode to backscatter audio sensor data when activated by Gen 2 READ command. The data is recovered using a USRP-based Software Defined RFID reader. We report an operating range of 7.4 meters for the analog backscatter microphone and 2.7 meters for hybrid microphone with 26.7 dBm output power USRP-based RFID reader.
Application Design for Wearable Computing
(2008)

The confluence of decades of computer science and computer engineering research in multimodal interaction (e.g., speech and gesture recognition), machine learning (e.g., classification and feature extraction), software (e.g., web browsers, distributed agents), electronics (e.g., energy-efficient microprocessors, head-mounted displays), design methodology in user-centered design, and rapid prototyping have enabled a new class of computers—wearable computers. The lecture takes the viewpoint of a potential designer or researcher in wearable computing. Designing wearable computers requires attention to many different factors because of the computer’s closeness to the body and its use while performing other tasks. For the purposes of discussion, we have created the UCAMP framework, which consists of the following factors: user, corporal, attention, manipulation, and perception. Each of these factors and their importance is described. A number of example prototypes developed by the authors, as well as by other researchers, are used to illustrate these concepts. Wearable computers have established their first foothold in several application domains, such as vehicle and aircraft maintenance and manufacturing, inspection, language translation, and other areas. The lecture continues by describing the next step in the evolution of wearable computers, namely, context awareness. Context-aware computing takes into account a user’s state and surroundings, and the mobile computer modifies its behavior based on this information. A user’s context can be quite rich, consisting of attributes such as physical location, physiological state, personal history, daily behavioral patterns, and so forth. If a human assistant were given such context, he or she would make decisions in a proactive fashion, anticipating user needs, and acting as a proactive assistant. The goal is to enable mobile computers to play an analogous role, exploiting context information to significantly reduce demands on human attention. Context-aware intelligent agents can deliver relevant information when a user needs that information. These data make possible many exciting new applications, such as augmented reality, context-aware collaboration, and augmented manufacturing. The combined studies and research reported in this lecture suggest a number of useful guidelines for designing wearable computing devices. Also included with the guidelines is a list of questions that designers should consider when beginning to design a wearable computer. The research directions section emphasizes remaining challenges and trends in the areas of user interface, modalities of interaction, and wearable cognitive augmentation. Finally, we summarize the most important challenges and conclude with a projection of future directions in wearable computing. KEyWoRDS wearable computers, wearability design, user interface, manipulation devices, interaction modalities, context-aware computing, cognitive augmentation vi
Design and control of warehouse order picking: A literature review
(2007)

Order picking has long been identified as the most labour-intensive and costly activity for almost every warehouse; the cost of order picking is estimated to be as much as 55% of the total warehouse operating expense. Any underperformance in order picking can lead to unsatisfactory service and high operational cost for its warehouse, and consequently for the whole supply chain. In order to operate efficiently, the orderpicking process needs to be robustly designed and optimally controlled. This paper gives a literature overview on typical decision problems in design and control of manual order-picking processes. We focus on optimal (internal) layout design, storage assignment methods, routing methods, order batching and zoning. The research in this area has grown rapidly recently. Still, combinations of the above areas have hardly been explored. Order-picking system developments in practice lead to promising new research directions.
Pick-by-Vision comes on age: evaluation of an augmented reality supported picking system in a real storage environment
(2009)

Order picking is one of the most important process steps in logistics. Because of their flexibility human beings cannot be replaced by machines. But if workers in order picking systems are equipped with a head-mounted display, Augmented Reality can improve the information visualization.
 In this paper the development of such a system -- called Pick-by-Vision - is presented. The system is evaluated in a user study performed in a real storage environment. Important logistics figures as well as subjective figures were measured. The results show that a Pick-by-Vision system can improve considerably industrial order picking processes.
Travel time estimation and order batching in a 2-block warehouse
(2007)

The order batching problem (OBP) is the problem of determining the number of orders to be picked together in one picking tour. Although various objectives may arise in practice, minimizing the average throughput time of a random order is a common concern. In this paper, we consider the OBP for a 2-block rectangular warehouse with the assumptions that orders arrive according to a Poisson process and the method used for routing the orderpickers is the well-known S-shape heuristic. We first elaborate on the first and second moment of the order-picker's travel time. Then we use these moments to estimate the average throughput time of a random order. This enables us to estimate the optimal picking batch size. Results from simulation show that the method provides a high accuracy level. Furthermore, the method is rather simple and can be easily applied in practice.
An analysis of electromagnetic characteristics and mechanical load characteristics of actuator for 4 pole MC
(2015)

MC(Magnetic Contactor) is a widely used switch in power distribution systems for controlling electrical loads by making and breaking electric circuits using electromagnetic force of an actuator. MCs are classified as 3 and 4 pole MC according to the number of main contacts. 4 pole MC consists of 4 main contacts, which controls a three phase four wire system or two single phase systems. The type of the main contact affects not only the electric characteristics but also the mechanical load characteristics of the MC. In order to design the actuator for the 4 pole MC, it is important to analyze the mechanical load characteristics and the electromagnetic characteristics of the actuator precisely. In this paper, the analysis of mechanical load characteristics according to the formation types of main contacts is conducted and the electromagnetic characteristics are analyzed using 2-D FEM(Finite Element Method). Furthermore, the dynamic characteristics analysis of the actuator is conducted and its validity is verified by experiments.
Charge and discharge characteristics of lead-acid battery and LiFePO4 battery
(2010)

The charge and discharge characteristics of lead-acid battery and LiFePO4 battery is proposed in this paper. The purpose of this paper lies in offering the pulse current charger of higher peak value which can shorten the charging time to reach the goal of charging fast and also avoids the polarization phenomena produced while charging the voltage and current signal simultaneously, supervising whole charging course of the battery, avoiding the situation of excessive charging, and ensuring the life of battery. The hardware circuit of this pulse current charger adopts the power electronic elements for the main structure, uses Digital Signal Processor as the core of the controller, and substantially decreases the volume of charger and the loss of circuit. Besides, the input power supply of this charger is utility, greatly facilitating its using or carrying, which contributes to the development of variety of electric equipments in the future.
Latent Space Model for Road Networks to Predict Time-Varying Traffic
(2016)

Real-time traffic prediction from high-fidelity spatiotemporal traffic sensor datasets is an important problem for intelligent transportation systems and sustainability. However, it is challenging due to the complex topological dependencies and high dynamism associated with changing road conditions. In this paper, we propose a Latent Space Model for Road Networks (LSM-RN) to address these challenges holistically. In particular, given a series of road network snapshots, we learn the attributes of vertices in latent spaces which capture both topological and temporal properties. As these latent attributes are time-dependent, they can estimate how traffic patterns form and evolve. In addition, we present an incremental online algorithm which sequentially and adaptively learns the latent attributes from the temporal graph changes. Our framework enables real-time traffic prediction by 1) exploiting real-time sensor readings to adjust/update the existing latent spaces, and 2) training as data arrives and making predictions on-the-fly. By conducting extensive experiments with a large volume of real-world traffic sensor data, we demonstrate the superiority of our framework for real-time traffic prediction on large road networks over competitors as well as baseline graph-based LSM's.
A knowledge-based approach in designing combinatorial or medicinal chemistry libraries for drug discovery. 1. A qualitative and quantitative characterization of known drug databases.
(1999)

The discovery of various protein/receptor targets from genomic research is expanding rapidly. Along with the automation of organic synthesis and biochemical screening, this is bringing a major change in the whole field of drug discovery research. In the traditional drug discovery process, the industry tests compounds in the thousands. With automated synthesis, the number of compounds to be tested could be in the millions. This two-dimensional expansion will lead to a major demand for resources, unless the chemical libraries are made wisely. The objective of this work is to provide both quantitative and qualitative characterization of known drugs which will help to generate "drug-like" libraries. In this work we analyzed the Comprehensive Medicinal Chemistry (CMC) database and seven different subsets belonging to different classes of drug molecules. These include some central nervous system active drugs and cardiovascular, cancer, inflammation, and infection disease states. A quantitative characterization based on computed physicochemical property profiles such as log P, molar refractivity, molecular weight, and number of atoms as well as a qualitative characterization based on the occurrence of functional groups and important substructures are developed here. For the CMC database, the qualifying range (covering more than 80% of the compounds) of the calculated log P is between -0.4 and 5.6, with an average value of 2.52. For molecular weight, the qualifying range is between 160 and 480, with an average value of 357. For molar refractivity, the qualifying range is between 40 and 130, with an average value of 97. For the total number of atoms, the qualifying range is between 20 and 70, with an average value of 48. Benzene is by far the most abundant substructure in this drug database, slightly more abundant than all the heterocyclic rings combined. Nonaromatic heterocyclic rings are twice as abundant as the aromatic heterocycles. Tertiary aliphatic amines, alcoholic OH and carboxamides are the most abundant functional groups in the drug database. The effective range of physicochemical properties presented here can be used in the design of drug-like combinatorial libraries as well as in developing a more efficient corporate medicinal chemistry library.
Comparison of direct and iterative artificial neural network forecast approaches in multi-periodic time series forecasting
(2009)

Artificial neural network is a valuable tool for time series forecasting. In the case of performing multiperiodic forecasting with artificial neural networks, two methods, namely iterative and direct, can be used. In iterative method, first subsequent period information is predicted through past observations. Afterwards, the estimated value is used as an input; thereby the next period is predicted. The process is carried on until the end of the forecast horizon. In the direct forecast method, successive periods can be predicted all at once. Hence, this method is thought to yield better results as only observed data is utilized in order to predict future periods. In this study, forecasting was performed using direct and iterative methods, and results of the methods are compared using grey relational analysis to find the method which gives a better result. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Application of information technology: MedEx: a medication information extraction system for clinical narratives
(2010)

Medication information is one of the most important types of clinical data in electronic medical records. It is critical for healthcare safety and quality, as well as for clinical research that uses electronic medical record data. However, medication data are often recorded in clinical notes as free-text. As such, they are not accessible to other computerized applications that rely on coded data. We describe a new natural language processing system (MedEx), which extracts medication information from clinical notes. MedEx was initially developed using discharge summaries. An evaluation using a data set of 50 discharge summaries showed it performed well on identifying not only drug names (F-measure 93.2%), but also signature information, such as strength, route, and frequency, with F-measures of 94.5%, 93.9%, and 96.0% respectively. We then applied MedEx unchanged to outpatient clinic visit notes. It performed similarly with F-measures over 90% on a set of 25 clinic visit notes.
Intonation issues in HMM-based speech synthesis for Vietnamese
(2014)

In an HMM-based Text-To-Speech system, contextual features, including phonetic and prosodic factors have a significant influence to the spectrum, F0 and duration of the synthetic voice. This paper proposes prosodic features aiming at improving the naturalness of an HMM-based TTS system (VTed) for a tonal language, Vietnamese. The ToBI (Tones and Break Indices) features are used to learn two crucial prosodic cues i.e. intonation (boundary tones) and pause (break indices), concurrently with another set of features. The result of MOS test showed that the general quality of synthetic voice is rather good, 1.21 point lower than the natural voice. About 55% of the voice trained with ToBI boundary tone feature are perceived as similar to the voice trained without this feature, while a 10% difference in favour of the voice trained without this ToBI feature is observed. This may be linked with F0 contour lowering or raising regardless of lexical tones. This brought two main problems in the synthetic voice: discontinuity in spectrum and F0 or unexpected voice quality. This paper then concluded the need of much more work on intonation modeling that should take into account the Vietnamese tones. A new prosody model can be designed, which may consider the ToBI model, with respect to lexical tones and the syntactic structure of Vietnamese. Index Terms — Text-to-speech (TTS), speech synthesis, tonal language, Vietnamese, HMM-based speech synthesis, intonation, ToBI
Deep Reflectance Maps
(2016)

Undoing the image formation process and therefore decomposing appearance into its intrinsic properties is a challenging task due to the under-constrained nature of this inverse problem. While significant progress has been made on inferring shape, materials and illumination from images only, progress in an unconstrained setting is still limited. We propose a convolutional neural architecture to estimate reflectance maps of specular materials in natural lighting conditions. We achieve this in an end-to-end learning formulation that directly predicts a reflectance map from the image itself. We show how to improve estimates by facilitating additional supervision in an indirect scheme that first predicts surface orientation and afterwards predicts the reflectance map by a learning-based sparse data interpolation. In order to analyze performance on this difficult task, we propose a new challenge of Specular MAterials on SHapes with complex IllumiNation (SMASHINg) using both synthetic and real images. Furthermore, we show the application of our method to a range of image editing tasks on real images.
Gaussian process for long-term time-series forecasting
(2009)

Gaussian process (GP), as one of the cornerstones of Bayesian non-parametric methods, has received extensive attention in machine learning. GP has intrinsic advantages in data modeling, given its construction in the framework of Bayesian hieratical modeling and no requirement for a priori information of function forms in Bayesian reference. In light of its success in various applications, utilizing GP for time-series forecasting has gained increasing interest in recent years. This paper is concerned with using GP for multiple-step-ahead time-series forecasting, an important type of time-series analysis. Utilizing a large number of real-world time series, this paper evaluates two different GP modeling strategies (direct and recursive) for performing multiple-step-ahead forecasting.